South Korea, Taiwan stocks slide

BENGALURU: Indonesian stocks fell on Thursday and the rupiah firmed as benchmark 10-year bond yields hit six-year highs, while stocks in South Korea and Taiwan fell amid mounting unease over whether vast AI investments will generate commensurate returns.

Jakarta’s benchmark 10-year yield held at 7.707 percent, its highest since mid-May 2020. It is up more than 150 basis points this year, driven by rising oil prices and concerns over MSCI’s proposed review of the country’s market status.

Bank Indonesia delivered three rate hikes between May and June. It next meets in mid-November, with the swaps markets signalling expectations of further policy tightening.

The MSCI gauge of emerging Asian equities fell 1 percent, dragged lower by the tech-heavy South Korean and Taiwanese benchmark indexes, which together account for more than half of the regional gauge.

South Korean stocks ended 1.2 percent lower. Taiwan stocks lost 0.9 percent, with chip giant TSMC down over 0.4 percent.

The South Korean won and the Malaysian ringgit led regional gains, both rising 0.4 percent. The Philippine peso climbed 0.1 percent, recovering from the record low of 64.171 per dollar touched on Tuesday.

The Thai baht inched 0.2 percent lower after the central bank left its key interest rate unchanged for a fourth consecutive meeting on Wednesday, in line with expectations. Equities lost 0.9 percent.